Leadership courses with the CLF Institute and their recent Talking Leaders Conference

Monday 15 February 2021

The CLF Institute’s work is underpinned by the CLF’s HEART values and our belief that at the core of school improvement and achievement for every child is investment in teacher professional development.​

Every teacher throughout their career should be able to access high-quality, evidence-informed professional development led by credible expert teachers and leaders, so that they can continue to improve their practice for the children they teach and the schools they lead. ‘At’ the Institute over the last few months, that has included online delivery of our NPQ courses at all levels and a Talking Leaders day conference event on 2 February.

Alison Fletcher, CLF Institute Director, said:

“Providing accessible, high-quality professional development for teachers and leaders in our region is at the HEART of what the CLF Institute strives to do, every day – it is our teachers and leaders that have the power to make a positive difference to our children and young people’s education and futures. Newly designated Teaching School Hubs will focus on ensuring all teachers and leaders in all schools are connected to relevant professional development that supports them to continuously improve education for their communities. We are excited to be involved in this new system of Hubs in our region.”

Talking Leaders Conference

Due to having to move their successful face to face NPQ delivery online in May 2020 the NPQ course deliverers at the CLF Institute, who have an abundance of school experience and involvement with the NPQ qualifications, wanted to give delegates the same experience that had previously been gained during each session; by listening to the experiences of current leaders in education.

From this thought the creation of the Talking Leaders Conference occurred with the result being a highly successful virtual event bringing together over 100 leaders from the South West region earlier this month.

Topics throughout the day all related to the six modules covered in each of the four NPQ courses: Strategy & Improvement, Teaching & Curriculum Excellence, Resources & Risks, Leading with Impact, Working in Partnership and Increasing Capability.

Session titles included: ‘The journey to becoming an anti-racist school’;  ‘Leading a school in crisis’;  ‘Smashing stereotypes’ and ‘Disadvantaged children’. The session entitled, “It’s hard to lead a cavalry when you think you look funny on a horse”, delivered by Chrysta Garnett, TSC Team South West Strategy Lead, was very popular with delegates who learnt how past experiences shape a leader.

Feedback during the plenary session clearly showed that participants had a thought-provoking and interesting day and were hugely appreciative. A few comments in the chat captured this:

“Fabulous day! Really good speakers. Brilliant take-aways. Great CPD.”

“What a brilliant day focusing on leadership, listening and learning, time to reflect and make actions has been so valuable.”

“I loved the entire day!”

Each session at the conference was recorded so that any current or previous NPQ delegate who could not attend, due to online teaching commitments, could be given access to these sessions with the opportunity to then watch them at a time to suit them – ‘CLF catch-up’.

Brigid Allen course deliverer, said:

“The CLF Institute has been delivering the National Professional Qualifications at all 4 levels across the South West for almost 10 years.  We have built strong relationships with schools from Cornwall to Gloucestershire, and from Wales to Wiltshire, in primary secondary, post 16 and special settings. We focus on getting to know our delegates, their schools and their region, providing small group delivery and individual support, using the knowledge and experience of leaders from our trust to ensure that content is both relevant and current.  We are delighted that we are the provider of choice for so many heads and school leaders across the South West and that they have joined us at our Talking Leaders conference today.”

Rhian Skinner, senior administrator, said:

“Our delegates really appreciated the chance to come together to listen to so many experiences from current executive leaders.  We are looking forward to planning our next Talking Leaders conference, later this academic year.  We already have different session topics and speakers planned”.

For more information about leadership courses with the CLF Institute contact [email protected]